Council resolution expected to throw support to project <br>This article has been modified since its original posting

The Menifee City Council is expected to officially announce its
support next week for the state to build a Riverside County
courthouse on vacant property in an area that may someday be the
city's hub.

Menifee and Superior Court officials confirmed Friday that
property on Sherman Road, south of Newport Road, is one of several
sites to be considered for a new courthouse, to replace a facility
in Hemet.

On the list are possible sites in those two cities and others
roughly along the Domenigoni Parkway-Newport Road corridor.

A committee of judges and architects has been formed to examine
the sites and make a recommendation to the state by next spring,
Riverside County Presiding Judge Thomas Cahraman said.

The California Administrative Office of Courts will make the
final decision.

"The whole issue is still very much up in the air," Cahraman
said. "Hemet feels strongly about putting the courthouse in Hemet;
Menifee feels strongly about putting it in Menifee; and there are
points in between that feel the same way. If the Menifee City
Council wants to pass a resolution and send it to me, I'll accept
it and make sure it gets to the right people."

A resolution in support of the Menifee location will be read,
and most likely passed by the City Council at its regular meeting
Tuesday night.

The tentative plans call for a 116,303-square-foot building
housing nine courtrooms at an estimated cost of $118 million.

Cahraman said the state hopes to break ground by May 2014, and
be in the building by early 2016.

Menifee Mayor Wallace Edgerton is pitching the site in his city,
saying it could be a perfect place to start expanding the city's
hub. The site is less than a mile from the Newport Road-Interstate
215 interchange.

"I think it would be a good fit for the court," Edgerton said.
"It would be in a new city and in a good location for rapid access
and egress, right along the freeway."

With a courthouse in place, the mayor added, it could be
surrounded by law offices and what he referred to as "white collar"
restaurants.

Plenty of upper-end restaurants have wanted to come to Menifee,
Edgerton said, but they shy away because consistently good lunch
and dinner crowds can't be guaranteed.

"Most of our restaurants usually just have one or the other,"
Edgerton said, "and so a lot people go south to Temecula or north
to Riverside to enjoy a good meal."

And for the real dreamers in the city, a new courthouse could
offer other possibilities such as a complex featuring a new city
hall and a community center.

Menifee Planning Director Carmen Cave said the city and Regent
Properties, which owns the 82 acres that includes the proposed
courthouse site, have been in negotiations over that prospect.

But because it's a proposed real estate acquisition, she said
she couldn't elaborate.

"The hope is that the courthouse will be the start and it would
present all the synergy that we want," Cave said. "Lawyers'
offices, notary offices and good restaurants would all be nearby.
And what we'd really like is someplace that has enough variety that
it doesn't close down on the weekends, when the courthouse is
closed."